Sometime in July, Kourtney Kardashian posted a photo in a somehow perfectly lit white room taking a selfie while eating a hair vitamin. More than 302,000 people have liked the photo. More than 1,400 people have comment things like “I’m putting these on my ‘must get’ list!” and “I must get some.”

On its face, this looks like a huge success for the brand, well worth the reported six figures the company likely paid the reality star, who has a reach of 96.5 million. However, according to Sideqik’s analytics, the size of the star may outweigh her value. Kourtney Kardashian pulls in an average of $267,700 in earned media value when she posts on Instagram. How much was she paid? Was it worth it?

There may be another option.

More and more, brands are leveraging influencers who come without the hefty price tag of fame. Influencers with a reach of less than one million can pull in more than $8,000 in earned media value for a post on Instagram. Since many of the influencers have not yet become social media celebrities, their cost is significantly less, leading to higher ROI.

While those smaller influencers can be harder to find, their authentic enthusiasm for your brand can lead to better engagement on partner posts. According to Sideqik’s data, Kourtney Kardashian earns an average of 707,000 engagements on her Instagram, but when comparing that to her Instagram reach of more than 58.5 million, that’s an engagement rate of 1.2 percent.

Beauty influencer Aidette Cancino, who has a total reach of 841,000 and posted on Instagram in June about the same hair vitamins, has an average engagement on Instagram of 18,700 to a reach of 313,499, meaning about 6 percent of her audience engages on posts.

So what does this mean?

Don’t be scared to branch into new territory. Target an influencer who maybe hasn’t partnered with brands yet. Their audience will trust them because they aren’t shilling for every product in town, and the cost to your marketing department will be reasonable, allowing you to grow a relationship with your influencers.

Ending up as a #ad on a celebrity’s social feed isn’t the only way to reach potential consumers. Need help finding influencers with a smaller but more engaged reach? Maybe Sideqik can help.

Emily Overholt

Emily Overholt is a writer and marketing manager for Sideqik. Previously, she dug into news of all types while working at the Associated Press in Phoenix, Arizona. Now, she's treating influencer marketing as her new beat. When she's not getting you top-notch content on influencer marketing, Emily is trying to make her dog famous on Instagram.